K-15, India’s underwater ballistic missile

India test fired its K-15 ballistic missile to join a select league of nations with the capability of firing nuclear-tipped missiles from land, air and sea.

The K-15 ballistic missile was fired from an underwater platform in Bay of Bengal. The missile met every mission objective, announced the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Some of the facts about K-15:

*The K-15 has a strike range of around 1500 kilometres.

* Sunday’s launch was the 11th launch of the missile from underwater. In addition, K-15 has also been test fired from land on three occasions. Though the results were successful, the DRDO kept it a closely guarded secret.

*K-15 was developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation for the Indian strategic forces’ underwater platforms.

*This missile will help India to achieve the capability of launching nuclear warheads from underwater facilities.

* With the successful test of K-15, India joins the USA, France, Russia and China in the elite group of countries that have submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). India was developing K-15 for the better part of the last decade as a reliable second strike capability in case of a nuclear attack.